Comparison of Infectivity and Productivity of Steinernema feltiae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora in Galleria mellonella and Tenebrio molitor
Comparison of Infectivity and Productivity of Steinernema feltiae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora in Galleria mellonella and Tenebrio molitor
Ali Murad Rahoo1,*, Tariq Mukhtar2, Barkat Ali Bughio3 and Rehana Kanwal Rahoo4
ABSTRACT
The conditions for deploying entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) in Pakistan can be harsh and the survival of infective juveniles (IJ) following inundative applications would be quite short. The application of EPN in cadavers may be appropriate because of the non-availability of industrially produced isolates. Therefore, in the present studies, Galleria mellonella and Tenebrio molitor were compared for invasion and production of IJ of Steinernema feltiae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora. Both the nematodes caused 100% mortality of the test insects within 6 days. The mean numbers of IJ of S. feltiae invading each G. mellonella, T. molitor medium and small were significantly greater (11.2, 15.2 and 11.4 IJ, respectively) than those of H. bacteriophora (2.8 IJ each per G. mellonella and T. molitor medium and 3 IJ per T. molitor small). Contrarily, there was greater emergence of IJ of H. bacteriophora than S. feltiae in all the treatments. The mean numbers of H. bacteriophora emerging from G. mellonella larvae were 272,600 from T. molitor medium were 194,600 and in T. molitor small were 21,900. Whereas, emergence of the mean numbers of S. feltiae IJ emerging from G. mellonella were 136,000 from T. molitor medium were 51,200 and in T. molitor small were 12,940, respectively. G. mellonella was found to be more susceptible host than T. molitor. Likewise, S. feltiae proved to be more aggressive than H. bacteriophora. The results of this study showed that greater numbers of EPN could be produced in G. mellonella than in T. molitor.
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April 2019
Vol. 51, Iss. 1, Pages 399-799
